First I have to tell you what it took for me to get WiFi in my apartment. We didn't install it when we moved in because I was about to leave for the US and Adam doesn't really need it when he can use the Grenoble hotspot with his phone service. So when I got back I wanted to install it because I knew I'd be bored a lot during the day. On August 29th i went to the wireless store and subscribed to the service, they said the box with the router would arrive within 7-10 days. A little slow but that's France. The next day we found an amazing deal on a Groupon-like website for the exact same Wifi service for a fraction of the price. I immediately went back to the store and asked to cancel the service. But this is France so its not so easy. He told me I had to WRITE a letter and send it in the mail to the main office in order to cancel my service. And then in 7-10 days when my box arrives, make sure to be home so that I can refuse to take the box, and the mailman will understand and send it back. So that's what I did, and I waited a week for the letter to be sent to call about starting the new service. When I called they said they had received my letter but it would take another few days for the cancellation to go through in order to start my new service. It took me another week to get ahold of them again because everytime I called the automated service would hang up on me because there were too many calls on hold and calls like that are charged a few cents a minute. When I finally got through 3 weeks after starting this process they said they would ship the box with the router and i'd recieve it in 5-10 days. Well it happened to arrive when we were in Turkey. (UPS sends you a text with an arrival date) Usually when you aren't home to receive a package they leave it at a little general store nearby and leave a note in your mailbox. Thats what I expected. When I got home there was no note in my mail box, when I did the online tracking number from the email it said that it was delivered and signed for. Well I sure didn't sign for it. I asked my neighbor and she didn't sign for any box. Where the hell was my box? I called UPS and they said they gave it to another neighbor on the 2nd floor. She coincidentally knocked on my door later that night to give me the box. So on October 2nd (remember I started the process august 29th) I finally installed Wifi into my apartment! and we're only paying 2 euro a month! Oh France. I will always be confused by your administrative processes
Spain:
I accompanied Adam on a business trip to Madrid. While he worked for 2 days I explored.. Then Adam and I rented a car and drove up to Basque country in northern Spain by the border of France. I learned to drive a stick shift and I hate it but its necessary when you live in Europe.
We got into San Sebastian from Madrid pretty late and followed the address given on the Airbnb website. The host said it was on a street called San Francisco. We got to a street called San Francisco Javier, it was the only street in the town with the words San Francisco so we thought it must be right. I call the host and ask which building is his, his directions made no sense based on my surroundings so I started asking people on the street while Adam walked all over the neighborhood. Nobody I encountered spoke English, one guy didn't even speak Spanish, just Basque. My Spanish is limited, mostly to vocabulary related to having a baby, but I finally managed to find a guy on the street who would talk to my airbnb host on the phone and then he drove with us and showed us where to go and walked back home. Super nice guy, and a little drunk. Turns out the street we needed was spelled in Basque, San Frantzisko, which is why Google didn't find it.
Turkey:
I accompanied Adam on another business trip to Istanbul and we flew out early to visit Cappadocia. We spent a half day in Istanbul with my Turkish friend and had a flight to Cappadocia that evening. Istanbul traffic is HORRIBLE. We thought we gave ourselves ample time to get through the city but we missed the airport shuttle, tried to call for a taxi but they were all full. So we found a Turkish airlines office and changed our flight because there was no way we would make it to the airport in time. Even if we had made the shuttle bus we'd have still missed our flight because the 45 minute quoted shuttle time was actually 90 minutes because of the traffic. So we were now on a 10:30pm flight, which then got delayed almost 2 hours. We didn't get to the hotel till 3am.
Then on the way back to Istanbul 2 days later our flight was delayed 3 hours due to storms and we didnt get to our hotel until 2 am. We had lots of stuff planned in Cappadocia so no time to catch up on sleep. (including the sunrise hot air balloon ride we work up at 4:50am for) And I didn't want to sleep away my 1.5 days in Istanbul while Adam worked so I just drank lots of Turkish tea.
Miraculously I got randomly upgraded to first class on my way back to France and after my wonderful 3 course meal I passed out in the big comfy reclining chair for the rest of the flight, waking up a few times noticing my mouth was hanging wide open.
Most esteem-boosting part of my time in Europe: When I travel, and since living in France, I try to look the least American as possible, dress like French girls dress, try to blend in. When I walked into the Blue Mosque, wearing the required headscarf, the guy at the front says "where you from?" i said "I'm from the US" he says "really?? you look like everywhere! You so pretty! You're originally from the US?" I said "yeah, but my family is Italian" he said "Ohhhh!! that's why! Usually people from the US are just so-so, but you so pretty! You look like everywhere!" ... mission accomplished!
What do I do when I'm not traveling? not much. I'm usually bored out of my mind.
Starting in September I started the job search. I was deciding which of my possible job options I would dislike the least, and that's what I'd go for.
~I posted 2 ads on the french craigslist offering my services as an English tutor: no response.
~I went to the school organisation next door and offered the same: "we have a wednesday class for high schoolers that already has a teacher but if she's absent you could fill in"
~I sent my resume to an job agency for babysitters that speak 2+ languages: no response (probably because I have no education in this, the French love certificates and diplomas)
~I was about to send my resume to an agency to look for jobs doing housework//laundry/grocery shopping for people who are too old/busy but my French friend said she tried that and they wouldn't consider her because she has no prior experience doing house cleaning. As if being an adult isn't experience enough. And she's French. So they surely wouldn't consider someone like me with a visa to deal with.
I found a language exchange group on Facebook and have met up with a few people that way. I've heard that french guys use it as a way to meet girls, I assume this is true since all but one of the people who responded to me was a guy. I met up with 2 of them though because I just need something to do with myself and I want to practice French. I met up with a French girl too and we've actually become friends. Its kind of like online dating, awkward. You meet up at an agreed on location and talk in a cafe for 2 hours getting to know eachother. I don't exactly know how to communicate with the guys for subsequent meetups without them thinking I'm interested in more than a language exchange. My french friend says even talking about my boyfriend doesn't matter, they might still pursue more (french guys aren't always the most faithful, or so I've heard)
I've gotten some feedback on my french skills though. I'm pretty comfortable with normal everyday conversation now. One guy said I made almost no grammatical errors but my pronunciation and accent were bad. We spent the next 20 mins on the R sound. I'll never it right. Other french people say that my accent isn't that bad for an English speaker. So who knows. They can understand me and that's what matters.
Since I can't find a job and I have no money to go out with friends regularly, my friend gave me the idea of volunteering. I've signed up with 2 agencies. Both involve going to retirement homes or hospitals to spend time with sick elderly people, play games with them, do artwork with them, sit and talk to them. I start this week.
We've got one October trip (roadtrip through the Alps and Alsace region of France) and one November trip (Morocco). Then I'll be out of money.
